First Comes Denial
by Mulligatawny
Summary: "Face it, man! You like Katie Gardner!" "Let me put this in a way you might understand. Me no like Katie."/Two: In which Travis forgets an important day and nobody cares that he's gonna die.
1. First Comes Denial

"I really don't get you sometimes."

Travis Stoll turns to look at his younger brother Connor. Currently, they're spying on the Demeter cabin from right under their window; they're waiting for its occupants to leave so the Stoll brothers can put into effect their latest prank, an genius (according to Travis) plan in which they will replace all of the plant seeds in the Cabin with poison ivy seeds. (See? Genius!)

"What do you mean?" Travis asks as his gaze returns to Katie Gardner who is turning the cabin upside down in search of her rusty tin watering can and asking (ordering) her siblings to help find it. Travis chuckles as he thinks of the watering can (which according to Katie has sentimental value because it was a gift or something) hidden under his bed in the Hermes cabin.

"That right there." Connor answers. Travis glances at him, somewhat confused.

"Yeah, 'that right there'. That really clears things up. I don't know what I would do without you, bro." Travis responds, sarcasm dripping from his tone. Really, just because Travis is clearly the smarter brother doesn't mean he can always understand his brother's nonsense.

"I meant how you're always looking at Katie Gardner. And just so you know, without me, you'd be dead. And bored." he adds almost as an afterthought. Travis shakes his head. If he was dead _and_ bored, that would mean he was in the Fields of Asphodel and he knows that there's no way in Hades that someone as awesome as him wouldn't end up in Elysium. (Or so he tells himself, anyways.)

"I'm not always looking at Katie Gardner. Just shows what you know. And by the way, you know nothing. Without you, I'd still be the awesome person I am today, only less irritated." Travis answers. Connor sighs as if he's about to explain something very obvious to somebody very stupid.

"Face it, man! You like Katie Gardner! I'm your brother, I should know these things. And there's no way in Hades, you'd be awesome without me. This whole camp knows you're only awesome because my awesomeness rubbed off on you." Connor replies. (The word 'awesome' is starting to lose all meaning in Travis's mind due to the overuse of it.) Travis lets out an exasperated sigh.

"Let me put this in a way you might understand. Me no like Katie. Me be awesome. You be stupid." Travis says slowly as he grabs Connor by the shoulders and shakes him for emphasis. Connor pushes Travis.

"Don't touch me." Connor threatens. Travis takes this as a challenge and pushes him back. Connor shoves Travis and Travis's head conks against the ivy-covered walls of the Demeter cabin. Travis is about to retaliate and-

"Travis Stoll, why in Hades are you hiding in the bushes outside my cabin?" Katie Gardner hisses. Connor mumbles something about him existing too. Travis springs up to his full height and puts on what he hopes is a charming smile. Connor takes advantage of the fact Katie is unaware of his presence and runs away to his cabin. (There are many things that Connor Stoll is willing to do. Risk Katie Gardner's wrath is not one of them.)

"Well, you see Katie dear, there's-"

"Call me 'dear' and I can guarantee you won't ever reproduce." Katie interrupts threateningly. Travis assumes that she's pissed off over her missing watering can and she suspects him of stealing it. He isn't sure whether to feel insulted or flattered.

"Well as I was saying, me and my brother just happened to be in the area and we...We...Uhm..." Travis falters. He can't think of a good explanation. He notices that Connor's gone and swears under his breath. Damn, now he's going to have to face Katie alone. (Gods help him.)

"I bet he was spying on us in the hopes of seeing Katie change clothes..." Katie's sister Lily whispers loudly to her siblings who chuckle and unsuccessfully try to hide it. Warmth floods through Travis's face. Like he'd ever spy on Katie in the hopes of seeing her naked! Pssh. Not like he's ever considered it...More than twice, three times, five times tops! (All right six, but that's as high as he'll admit! Not that there's any other times to admit. Pssh.)

Katie's fourteen-year-old brother Mark (who by some miracle is a teenage boy who _doesn't_ like suggestive jokes) silences his siblings and says "Maybe Travis took your watering can, Katie." Mark walks away because it's not like he just gave Travis a death sentence or anything with that suggestion. Of course he didn't.

Travis trys to get up from the bushes but trips and falls on his face. He starts tugging on his foot but it's stuck among the bushes. Crap.

Katie has a thoughtful look on her face as she seems to consider Mark's suggestion. She apparently accepts it as truth and she glares at Travis.

Travis frantically looks around in search of anything thatcould be used as a weapon to defend himself. Nothing.

Katie pulls a dagger from her back pocket. _That's actually kinda hot_, Travis thinks to himself. He immediately shakes his head of the thought. Katie Gardner equals his death and annoying him and violence, not attractiveness.

Katie walks slowly to where Travis is sprawled out on the grass. She stops when she reaches Travis. Her scuffed black Converse are millimeters away from Travis's face.

"You know...Seeing as you're in no position to defend yourself...I think I'll go easy on you..." Katie whispers. Travis brings himself up into a sitting position and unsuccessfully tries to scoot away. Katie strokes her dagger. _Note to self_, Travis thinks, _Don't steal gardening supplies from children of Demeter who are permanently PMS-ing..._

Katie smirks. Anger is clearly etched across her freckled face. (But there's something in her eyes that Travis can't decipher. An expression he sees in the mirror sometimes as he thinks of girls. One girl in particular...)

Five minutes later, Travis shuffles into his cabin rubbing his right forearm. Connor's sleeping in his bed. Travis grabs a small red bouncy ball he nicked from the camp store earlier in the day and throws it at Connor.

Connor jerks awake when the ball makes contact with a certain spot between his legs (_Lucky aim_, Travis thinks) and nearly falls on the floor in his panic.

He appears as if he's about to yell at Travis for waking him up but instead he says "Dude. What happened to your arm?"

Travis glares at Connor for a moment. "Well while you were napping and probably dreaming about doing gods-know-what with daughters of Aphrodite"-Connor makes no effort to deny this and his lips curl up slightly-"I was kicked in the arm. Twice. By Katie Gardner, who apparently has bricks for feet."

Travis shuffles over to the mini-fridge hidden in the corner of the messy cabin and pulls out an ice pack. He throws himself on his bed and winces as he presses the ice pack to the growing bruise. "Stupid Katie Gardner and her homicidal tendencies..."

Connor chuckles. "Ah, young love."

Travis throws a pillow at him.

::

"Why don't you ask her out?"

Travis briefly considers punching Percy's arm. (Apparently, Katie's murderous inclinations are rubbing off on him.) But then he realizes Percy probably wouldn't notice, what with him bearing the Curse of Achilles and all. Damn. Travis yawns. (He's not a morning person.)

"Ask who out?" Travis replies, pretending that he has no idea that Percy's talking about a certain daughter of Demeter who's only two people away from him. He nudges Percy to get him to move as the serving line moves a grand total of three inches.

"The girl you keep on looking at every five seconds." Percy says as he helps himself to an unnatural amount of bacon. Travis wonders for a moment if Percy's life goal is to give himself a heart attack before the end of the summer session as he glances sideways at Katie.

"Who, Katie?" Travis answers before he can stop himself. Damn. Now he's admitted that he keeps on glancing over at Katie Gardner. But it's only because he's making sure she doesn't try to kill him with a fork or something. (Or so he tells himself.)

"So you admit that you're staring at Katie?" Percy asks, a triumphant grin on his face. _He has the Curse of Achilles, you can't hit him..._, Travis reminds himself.

"No. I'm checking to make sure that she doesn't come after me with kitchen utensils." Travis says in what he hopes is a convincing tone as he rubs the bruise from yesterday. Apparently, it isn't because Percy doesn't let the subject drop.

"Seriously. Just ask her out. The whole camp's waiting for it. I hear Connor even has a bet with a bunch of people on when you guys get together." Percy continues as he piles five scrambled eggs on his plate because apparently he wants to find out if cholesterol poisoning is as fun as it sounds. Travis's mouth drops open in shock.

Connor had set up a bet? Without his help or approval? About when he was getting together with Katie Gardner, no less!

Travis decides that his brother has commited treason of the highest kind and must suffer dearly. Maybe Travis could steal Connor's secret stash of chocolate bars and candy and give them out to the younger campers as Connor watches...Yeah, that could work...

Travis feels a pair of eyes staring at him. He snaps himself out of his reverie and notices Percy staring at him with a somewhat creeped out expression on his face. Travis assumes he probably had a maniacal expression on his face. He decides to change the subject.

"You're not one to talk, Percy. We all had to wait like _three years_for you and Annabeth to get together." Travis says, hoping that Percy will be distracted from the whole topic of his (non-existent) crush on Katie. Percy blushes redder than the strawberries on his plate.

"Don't change the subject." Percy mutters, the blush still on his face.

"Hurry up! I'm starving to death over here; you have no time to analyze every shred of food!" Katie snaps at the twin Apollo campers in between her and Travis who are taking a very long time in choosing what they want for breakfast. The campers ignore her and Katie starts tapping her foot, an irritated expression etched across her features.

Travis starts observing (not staring!) Katie and the twins as they glare at each other.

After a few minutes, Katie (who is the death glare master) lets out an exasperated sigh and decides to skip the twins. They glare daggers at her but say nothing. Travis is still looking at her, never having fully realized that her eyes are kinda pretty even when she's angry...

"What are you looking at, Travis?" she snaps, her irritation not having worn off yet. Travis snaps himself out of his reverie (which, by the way, does not mean he likes Katie Gardner) and answers "Nothing, Katie. Nothing."

Katie turns back to the selection of food laid out in front of her and smiles when she sees her favorite cereals (Travis somehow knows that this list is comprised of anything chocolate-y). Travis turns away from her, slightly red in the ears and contemplating the possibility of Katie being bipolar.

He elbows Percy when he hears him mutter "Should've asked her out..."

This, of course, adds another bruise to his arm.

Damn Curse of Achilles.

::

"Travis!"

Travis turns his head around in search of the person who called his name and he sees Annabeth. Annabeth jogs over to where he is.

"So what's up?" she asks. Travis wonders why Annabeth is talking to him. They aren't exactly great friends. (She still hasn't completely forgiven him for locking Percy in a closet with Rachel a few weeks ago.)

"Nothing...Just walking to archery class..." he answers somewhat apprehensively. He's half afraid that she's finally going to get her revenge and that he may never recover from the emotional scars. The other half is afraid is that she's going to hire Katie to do the work for her. He suppresses a shudder.

"So, I overheard your conversation with Percy." she says casually. Travis mentally translates this to '_Percy told me about the conversation you had and I'm saying I overheard so you don't get yourself injured by trying to kick my invulnerable boyfriend's ass.'_

Travis starts walking faster. Why is it that people had suddenly decided to interrogate him on his relationship with Katie? He pranks her, she yells at him, he pranks her again, and the glorious cycle continues. It's not that hard to grasp really.

Annabeth quickens her stride and catches up to him. Travis glances at her out of the corner of his eye. She has a '_Don't run away because I can and will follow you until I get answers' _look on her face. (He's good at recognizing this expression; he sees it all the time on Katie.)

Travis sighs as he realizes that he's not getting away from this interrogation and he stops walking. Annabeth looks pleased at his surrender.

"Now, I'm not going to ask you if you like Katie. I already know you do." Annabeth tells him. Travis opens his mouth and is about to protest but Annabeth shushes him.

"Don't deny it. It doesn't take a child of Aphrodite to know you're always pranking her cabin to get her attention." Annabeth says in a matter-of-fact tone. Travis doesn't really know how to respond to that. Sure, he _is_always pranking the Demeter cabin but that's only because Katie's reactions amuse him. Her reactions are especially enjoyable when she's standing _thisclose_ to him and she's _thisclose _to stabbing him and she's so close he could kiss her if he wanted to.

Not that he _wants _to kiss Katie. Pssh. Of course not!

Travis is snapped out of his deep thinking (Travis Stoll having deep thoughts? Wait, what?) by Annabeth's chuckle.

"What?" he inquires, half afraid of the answer. He knows that when it comes to girls like Annabeth and Katie, it's best to be half afraid at all times for they are capable of a lot of masculinity-degrading actions when provoked.

"You were thinking about her!" Annabeth bites her lip to stop from laughing. Travis feels heat flooding into his cheeks.

"I was not!" he retorts lamely, his cheeks turning redder.

"Yes, you were! You're blushing!" Annabeth can't stop the giggle this time. (Travis Stoll blushing, Annabeth Chase giggling- the world must be coming to an end.)

"Yeah, well, shouldn't you be making out with Percy in a closet somewhere?" Travis says, remembering the time he was walking around the Big House after a meeting with Chiron concerning his behavior (so he threw some firecrackers on the Demeter cabin's roof, big deal) and he heard...noise coming from a closet. He opened the closet and out tumbled Percy and Annabeth who at least had the decency to look embarrassed at being caught. (Travis was just glad they had their clothes on. And that they didn't murder him.)

Annabeth turns tomato red, obviously recalling the same memory. Travis's blue eyes widen slightly as Annabeth's hand twitches towards her dagger.

"D-Don't talk about that! Just...Drop it! You know what? Bye, Travis!" Annabeth sputters as she turns around and leaves him alone.

Travis smiles, pleased that he managed to get Annabeth to leave him alone. He realizes he managed to escape from this interrogation unharmed, unlike the others which resulted in his being bruised.

Thinking that maybe the day will be get better from here, Travis starts making his way to his archery lesson, not even caring that he's late. Suddenly, Travis trips on the outstretched leg of a huge (think human skyscraper) son of Ares who is unnaturally tough-looking_. _He slams down onto the ground, face-first. The son of Ares traipses away, laughing.

Travis forces himself to stand up with a groan. He brushes the dirt off of his jeans and Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and feels a painful throb somewhere above his right eye. He puts his hand on the throb and feels a bump starting to form. He lets out a frustrated sigh.

Damn.

::

"You're a moron."

Travis balls his hands into fists. All he wants is to be left alone. Is that too much to ask? Isn't it bad enough that he's been interrogated not one, not two, but _three_ times in the past twenty-four hours? Why can't the world stop conspiring against him?Why couldn't the world at least leave him alone for a few minutes so he can take a nice shower after a long day?

"Did you not hear me? I said you're a moron."

That's it. If that person calls him a moron one more time, he can and will beat them up.

"Helloo? Earth to moron!"

Travis turns around to face the person and finds himself looking down at a thirteen-year-old boy named Will, a recent addition to the Aphrodite cabin. Travis is unsure of what to do. How in Hades is he supposed to vent his anger when a thirteen-year-old is the one provoking him?

"Yes?" Travis asks through clenched teeth. Will stares at him incredulously.

"You really don't know why?" Will responds in disbelief.

"No. Wait...No, I haven't done anything bad...Today at least." Travis answers. Will shakes his head slowly as if gravely disappointed.

"I can't believe you don't know." Will says.

"Know what?" Travis asks. Seriously, he just wants to take a shower in peace. Travis decides he's had enough of this irritation and turns around so he can enter the showers but he almost crashes into a trio of Aphrodite girls whose names he has not bothered learning.

"Oh no, Travis. You're staying right there." says the tall brunette in the middle. She seems to be the most intimidating due to her death glare. (How is it that daughters of the love goddess can look so nice one second and menacing the next, Travis may never know.)

Travis can tell what the conversation is going to be about. Apparently, the whole camp got a memo instructing them to interrogate him on his non-existent (no really, it is) crush on Katie. The shorter red-head to the right of the brunette has her arms crossed as if daring Travis to leave. He sighs and decides to stay because he doesn't need a repeat of what happened last time he messed with the Aphrodite cabin. (He looked like a circus clown for a month.)

"Fine. Whatever." Travis says, holding his hands up in defeat. The trio looks surprised for a moment but they quickly compose themselves.

"All right. How do you feel about Katie Gardner?" the younger-looking blonde to the left asks him. Travis sighs. He expected this question.

"Nobody seems to understand. So, I'm going to say it very slowly. I. Do. Not. Like. Katie. Gardner. Once again: Me like Katie? No. And finally: Me. No. Likey. Katie. And I never will." he answers slowly, becoming increasingly irritated. Why can't people just accept he pranks her for the hell of it?

"I don't believe you," pipes up Will from behind, "You're in denial." Travis ignores this comment. The trio nods in agreement. Travis decides that he'd like nothing more at the moment than to just disappear.

"You know what? I. Give. Up. All I want to do is take a shower and go to sleep afterwards." cries Travis, not being able to hold it in anymore.

"Take a shower? Really? That's what you want to do?" says the tall brunette in the middle in disbelief.

"Yes. Take a shower. Now try not to have too much fun with that mental image and leave me alone." Travis responds. The girls' cheeks are glowing red. He smirks in triumph and takes advantage of their embarrassment to walk away from them and head to the showers, happy that this day is coming to an end and hoping that tomorrow that isn't as frustrating and doesn't leave him as injured. (Because seriously, two bruises and a bump- just how unlucky can he be?)

He's about to open the door when someone else does and it slashes across his face, leaving a a faint scar on his cheek.

He just can't win, can he?

::

Travis walks out of the showers, feeling refreshed and he's about to make his way towards his cabin when he hears a sniffle come from behind the girls' showers a few feet away. He wonders if he should go check up on whoever it is. He hears another sniffle and decides that being the awesome person that he is, he should go check up on the person. If he's lucky (which he hasn't been so far today, but whatever), it'll be a cute girl in need of a shoulder to cry on. He smiles at the thought.

The smile is quickly wiped off when he reaches the girl. It's Katie Gardner, sitting in a patch of dead grass. And she's _crying. _Travis makes a mental note to start preparing for the apocalpyse.

"Uhm. Katie? Are you all right?..." he asks nervously. He's never dealt with a sad Katie before. He's only dealt with angry Katie, pissed off Katie, frustrated Katie, irritated Katie, and bitchy Katie. (The difference between all those sides of Katie? How badly they hurt Travis.)

Katie appears alarmed at the sound of his voice and springs up instinctively. She looks at him and turns away again, a blush creeping up her cheeks. She starts wiping the few tears on her face off with her arm and tries to hurry past Travis. Travis grabs her wrist. She doesn't even bother jerking away like she usually would.

"Katie, what's wrong? Is this about that watering can I stole? I'll give it back..." Travis asks, concern evident in his voice. Honestly, he doesn't think the watering can is why she's crying but he figures lame humor is the way to go with the situation.

"Just forget about it, Travis." she replies as she tries to walk away. Yeah, sure, Travis is just going to forget he saw Katie crying. Like that's such an easy task. Pssh. Travis keeps his hold on her wrist.

"You were crying. I want to know why. That way, I'll have my next prank victim." Travis says, hoping that sad Katie isn't one to hit amazingly good-looking, totally awesome, hilarious, humble geniuses such as himself.

Katie lets out a weak chuckle. The corner of her lips tug up slightly. She wipes the last tear off her face and a thoughtful look crosses her face.

"Well, I'll tell you. But just so you know, I was not crying, I was-"

"Leaking?" Travis offers with a smirk. Katie shoots him a pointed look.

"_Whatever._ So, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, I'll tell you what was wrong." Katie says. She sucks in a deep breath.

"The thing is...I was walking around and I kinda overheard some Aphrodite girls talking about...About the guy I like. They had asked him if he...If he liked me. And he said he never would...And I don't know I just...I kinda snapped. And I started...leaking...Only a little, though." Katie adds.

The gears are spinning in Travis's head. Katie's story reminds him of earlier, when the Aphrodite girls had asked him about Katie...He had said he would never like her...Just like the guy Katie likes...

Travis remembers all of the people today who had asked (interrogated) him about his feelings towards Katie. He had said no each time...Maybe he said no for the wrong reasons...Travis knows for sure he doesn't _like _Katie...But there are emotions other than like, that's for sure...Stronger ones...

"Uhm. Travis? Helloo?" Katie says while she waves her free hand in front of Travis's face. Travis comes back to reality.

"Katie? Do I know this guy?" Travis asks tentatively. Katie's cheeks redden.

"Yeah..." she says while nervously twirling a lock of her brown hair around her finger.

"Is he like the awesomest guy in all of Camp Half-Blood?" Travis asks. Katie chuckles.

"He seems to think so." Katie says with a smirk. Her face isn't blotchy anymore and that familiar spark in her eyes is back.

"Would you have a problem with this guy suddenly kissing you?" Travis asks with a smirk. Katie appears to mull this over.

"Well..." she says as if uncertain of her answer. The smirk on Travis's face disappears.

He should've known. He should've known that Katie wouldn't want to kiss him. In fact, she probably wasn't even talking about him in the first place. He kicks himself internally. How could he be so _stupid_? He shouldn't have expected Katie to even like him after all he's done to her. Really, he should've-

And suddenly Katie's kissing him, both hands fisted in his curly brown hair. He stands there frozen for an instant (are pigs going to start flying anytime soon?) until it seems to click in his brain that Katie's kissing him and he should probably kiss her back before she tries to murder him.

So he deepens the kiss and...he likes it. (Seriously, is Aphrodite pranking him?)

After a few minutes, that pesky human need for oxygen forces them to break apart. (Damn.)

Travis stands there awkwardly with his hands in his pockets. Katie's looking at her feet. She glances up at him and he blushes (seriously, since when is he a thirteen-year-old girl?).

"I thought you hated me." he blurts out. He kicks himself internally. Yeah, such genius on his part, kiss Katie and remind her that she hates him! Yeah, Travis is sure that with charm like that, he probably isn't ever getting laid by anybody at all. Idiot.

"Well...I don't _hate _you. You just irritate me a lot." she answers with a smirk. Travis smirks. (He realizes that that's all he and Katie ever seem to do. Smirk.)

"I irritate you? Like when I pulled away from that kiss? Does that count?" Travis responds slyly. Katie's cheeks defy the laws of nature and turn redder.

"Yea. Like that." she replies. Travis leans in for another kiss (and Connor says he hasn't got game!) when Katie puts a hand on his chest to stop him.

"Yeah, not until I get my watering can back. Sorry." Katie says sweetly, not sounding the least bit apologetic at all.

But that's when Travis realizes that everybody's wrong, he _doesn't_ like Katie Gardner.

Nope.

He _loves_ her.

* * *

**(A/N) Yeah, I don't know if I quite did them justice but this was fun to write. (Absurdly long Tratie fic ftw. :P) The world needs more Tratie. Like seriously. They're too awesome. Well, on another note, I have a few ideas for continuing this but that depends on whether or not you (the readers) want me to.**

**Thanks for reading. :)**

* * *

******Disclaimer: And this totally kills the story. Great. **


	2. Then Comes Frustration

****

**(A/N) So I decided to continue this. Woo. On another note, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed/faved/alerted, it really makes me feel special. :P I didn't expect this fic to get the feedback it did. Yeah. As for updating, it won't exactly be timely or regularly. It'll be whenever I have time in between my homework and my life (lol, just kidding, I have no life!) and the other fics I might write because I'm an easily distracted procrastinator. :P But I'll do my best to focus on this. **

**Also: You guys know that rhyme people would use to tease each other in elementary school? 'First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes *insert poor unfortunate soul's name here* with the baby carriage'? Yeah, that's kinda where I got the idea for the chapter titles. Only instead of using words like love and marriage, I'm using a word that fits with the chapter. I kinda felt the need to explain that. I doubted everybody would get it. /is lame/**

**Well enough with the rambling and on with the chapter!**

* * *

"Do you know what day it is, Travis?"

Travis gives his girlfriend a puzzled look. "Isn't today Wednesday?"

Katie sighs. "Yes, it's Wednesday. Can you be more specific?"

Travis crosses his arms and starts thinking. It's just a Wednesday. Suddenly, Travis realizes why this day is so important to Katie.

"I've got it!" he announces triumphantly. Katie smiles.

"All right then, what's today?" Katie asks.

"There's some new flower-related special premiering on the Home and Garden Channel tonight and you're excited!" Travis announces, triumph still evident in his tone. Really, he's such a good boyfriend. The Aphrodite cabin should give him an award of some sort. Hey! Maybe he can get Connor to casually suggest it to them. Yeah, that could work...

"You're kidding, right? Please tell me you're kidding." Katie's disbelieving voice cuts through his thoughts. Travis's eyebrows knit together in confusion. Kidding? Why would he be kidding?

"Kidding? Why would I be kidding?" he says, echoing his thoughts. Last time he checked, he's the prankster in this relationship, not Katie. Katie glares at him. Gulp.

"You _honestly_ don't know what day it is today?" she questions him angrily.

"Yes, I do." he answers. Katie lets out a relieved sigh and her whole body seems to relax.

"Oh, that's a relief. I thought that-"

"It's Wednesday." Travis interrupts. Really, does Katie think he's so stupid as to forget what day of the week it is? Katie goes back to glaring at him.

"I can't believe you! You forgot our one-year anniversary!" Katie yells angrily. (Anger seems to be her emotion of choice when it comes to Travis.) Travis gapes slightly.

Oh crap. He forgot their anniversary. Oh gods, Katie's going to murder him. With a gardening rake. And Connor's gonna sell tickets to the event, Travis is sure. He might even open up a bet on how long Travis lasts. Or maybe she'll just take out a dagger and murder him right here under Thalia's pine tree. It's not like anybody will hear his screams.

Oh gods, he's too young and awesome to die!

Unless...

Yeah, he's gonna have to lie his way out of this. (Gods help him.)

"Of course I remember our anniversary!" Travis says in what he hopes is a convincing tone of indignation. He dramatically puts a hand over his chest as if mortally offended. Katie gives him a disbelieving look.

"Really? Then why did you insist that today is Wednesday?" Katie asks, obviously not believing him. Travis starts praying to every god in the pantheon (except Demeter who doesn't really appreciate his awesomeness) that he gets out of this alive.

"Well, excuse me for wanting to surprise you. Y'know, I had a bunch of stuff planned. _Romantic_ stuff, no less. And now you've ruined the surprise just because you didn't trust me." Travis lies. He hopes that the guilt trip works.

A guilty look etches itself across Katie's face. "I'm sorry, Travis. I should've believed you."

She believes him! He's saved! Score one for his Hermes genes! He should do a victory dance. Yeah, that'd be totally attractive.

"Well Travis," Katie begins as she stands up, "I look forward to seeing the 'surprise' you had planned for me." Katie makes air quotes around the word 'surprise.'

Katie smirks at Travis, daring him to admit he was lying. Oh gods, she knows him too well. But Stoll brothers never admit defeat (unless Clarisse is threatening to sever their manhood with an electric spear) so he keeps his composure.

"Yeah, you'll love it. Trust me." Travis says with a cocky smirk. Katie smirks (it's a smirk-fest!) and saunters away down the hill. Travis can't even enjoy the sight. His mind is racing.

How in Hades is he supposed to plan a romantic date in less than twelve hours?

::

"How in Hades am I gonna plan a romantic date in twelve hours?"

Connor raises his eyebrows and shrugs. Damn Connor and his lack of girlfriend. He's useless when it comes to this sort of thing.

"Are you desperate?" Connor asks him like he's commenting on the weather. Great. Go ahead and be totally relaxed in the face of Travis's impending death. Really, it's not Travis is his brother or anything. Pssh.

"What do you mean?" Travis asks warily. Whenever Connor asks "Are you desperate?", Travis usually ends up on dish-washing duty for a week. Connor looks at him like he's watching someone be sentenced to a life in prison and sighs. (Travis is starting to seriously consider running out of the cabin and not looking back.)

"Dude. You're gonna have to ask the Aphrodite cabin." he answers. There are a lot of things that Travis could say in response (all of them along the lines of 'Hell no!' and 'Are you freaking insane?'). Instead Travis stays silent. Connor shakes his head.

"You have to. It's not like anybody else can help as well as them." Connor insists. Travis starts to panic internally. He can't ask the Aphrodite kids for help! They'll never let him hear the end of it. Besides, he's so good-looking that the girls (or hey, maybe even a guy, he isn't here to judge) might start flirting with him and Katie might get jealous.

Or worse, they might plan something incredibly mushy and he'll lose all his pride (which yes he does have, don't listen to what Connor says).

"You know what? I'll just ask other people. People who are in relationships and aren't related to Aphrodite." Travis says. He relaxes a little.

Connor shrugs. "Whatever. It's your funeral."

Sometimes, Travis wonders why he hasn't murdered Connor yet.

This is one of those times.

::

"Hey Annabeth!"

Travis regrets the words almost as soon as they're out of his mouth. Of all the people he had to run into on his way to archery practice (aka naptime), he ran into Annabeth and now his big fat mouth has gotten him into trouble again. He'd bet all his drachmas that Annabeth is going to either start droning on and on about the science of pleasing one's girlfriend or start daydreaming about Percy.

But he's already called her, he might as well start planning the design of his burial shroud. (Only problem is that there is no emblem or logo on this planet cool enough to signify his awesomeness. Oh well.)

"Yes, Travis?" Annabeth asks as she jogs over next to him. He glances around the empty practice arena. At least nobody will witness this embarassing moment. Travis's mouth opens slightly but no sound comes out. Oh gods, how is he gonna ask this?

"Hello? Earth to Travis!" Annabeth says, her tone making it clear that she thinks Travis is insane. Of all the moments for his brain to go on vacation. Really. Well, he might as well look on the bright side. He's dealing with Annabeth, who's a genius. Maybe her smarts extend into relationships. Or at the very least, she'll try to be apologetic when she tells the whole camp how Travis Stoll came to her for relationship advice.

"Uhm. I'm just gonna come out and say it. I need help." Travis says quickly. His ego is still intact. His pride is not even a little bruised. Pssh. He should've known he's too awesome for loss of dignity.

Annabeth arches an eyebrow.

"Help with what?" she asks skeptically. She probably expects him to start asking her for help with a prank. Just because he's done it countless times doesn't mean he'll do it again...today, at least.

"Well, you see...It's me and Katie's first anniversary and I wanna do something nice because that's just the amazing person I am." Travis lies. He smiles innocently. Annabeth narrows her eyes and studies him for a few moments.

"In other words, you forgot your anniversary, told her you have something planned when you really don't, and now you need my help." Annabeth states in a matter-of-fact tone. Travis's mind reels slightly. Annabeth is a genius but she's not a mind-reader! How in Hades could she know? He isn't _that_ obviously pathetic, is he?

"I overheard Katie talking to her siblings. Don't worry. You're not obviously pathetic." Annabeth says with a smirk. All right, how the hell did she know _that_? You know what? Travis doesn't even wanna know.

"So can you help me or not?" Travis insists. Campers are starting to show up and the majority of them keep on peering over their friends' heads to stare. Nosy bastards. So what if there's usually an extremely entertaining fight whenever Travis and Annabeth start talking? It doesn't give them the right to gawk!

"Nope, sorry. The only thing that can help you in your case is something very romantic. And I can't help with that. Percy's sweet but when it comes to romance..." Annabeth frowns as if she's remembering an event gone wrong. Travis blinks. If Annabeth Chase of all people can't help him, then who the hell can?

Travis starts staring at his black Converse. What is he gonna do? Oh gods, he's gotten himself in some pretty sticky situations but none of them ever involved the possibilty of Katie murdering him, castrating him, and breaking up with him. And knowing Katie, it might just happen in that order.

"Uhm...You're spaced out now. So I'm gonna go. Good luck with your problem." Annabeth says as she walks away. Travis shakes his head.

Really, does nobody care Katie's going to inflict a slow, humiliating, and painful death on him?

::

"Chris! I need to talk to you!"

All right, this has to work. Surely, Chris Rodriguez must be at least somewhat romantic if he's been dating Clarisse for the past couple of years and is still breathing with all his limbs intact.

"Yeah?" Chris asks, sounding somewhat nervous. Really, you pour itching powder, poison ivy, and some slimy substance even the children of Athena couldn't identify in a guy's boxers and he stops trusting you. What kind of messed up world are we living in?

In an attempt to seem friendly, Travis slings an arm around Chris's shoulder. Chris flinches. Wimp. So he can recover from the mental scars of the Labyrinth and dating Clarisee but he can't handle a friendly gesture?

"I need your help." Travis says casually. Chris's eyes widen slightly.

"Help with what...?" he asks, still sounding somewhat nervous. This guy seriously needs to man up. Maybe dating Clarisse injured his masculinity. Poor guy. Travis feels a stab of pity towards this poor soul. He's doomed to a life of never being as awesome as Travis. He'd pretend to cry except he really needs to find out if Chris can help him with his situation.

"I wanna do something nice for me and Katie's anniversary." Travis states. Chris chuckles. Huh? Why is he chuckling? He should be thinking about how to help Travis survive!

"You forgot your anniversary, didn't you?" Chris chuckles again. Travis takes his arm off of Chris's shoulder. He is in shock. This inferior being dares to laugh at him? And another thing, why does everybody assume that he forgot his anniversary? Just because it's true doesn't mean people should point it out. Gah, he would so lay the smackdown on this guy if he didn't need his help. Travis sighs.

'Yes, now can you help me or not?" Travis asks, his patience wearing thin. It's almost time for lunch and he still doesn't know what to do!

"Sorry dude. I don't know anything about romance. I'm dating Clarisse, how would I know?" Chris answers and giving Travis a 'duh' look. This coming from the guy who flinches at manly and totally straight gestures of affection. Pssh.

"Exactly. You're still dating Clarisse and it's been years. How has she let you live all this time if you're not romantic?" Travis inquires. (Really, this is the sort of question the owl from the Tootsie Pop commericals should be asking. Screw lollipops, this is what the world wants to know!)

"Well, romantic for Clarisse is me showing up at her cabin whenever she manages to empty it and-" Travis holds up his hands in a shushing gesture. The last thing he needs in his head is the mental image of Chris and Clarisse going at it. No. The psychological scars would never heal.

"Stop right there. I don't need to know more." Travis says, looking mildly disgusted. Chris smirks. Travis really doesn't want to know what's going on through his head. (Also: Travis would really like to know how Chris does it. He and Katie have been dating for a year. They've even admitted that they..._love_ each other and they still haven't gone that far. Lucky bastard.)

"Chris!" Travis's head whips around to the source of the voice. He sees Clarisse standing in front of her cabin, arms crossed in front of her action. She's tapping her foot impatiently. She gives Chris a 'get your ass over here' look.

Chris turns to look at Travis, the smirk still etched on his face. "Well, duty calls, if you know what I mean."

And with that, the lucky bastard walks away to do all sorts of fun things that Travis doesn't wanna think about and has never experienced.

To top it all off, he _still_ doesn't know what to do for his and Katie's anniversary.

Fantastic.

::

"Grover! Yeah, you! Over here!"

Travis can't believe this is how low he's sunk. He's asking a lovestruck satyr for relationship advice. Then again, the lovestruck satry is dating a pretty hot nymph. So maybe he's doing something right in the romance department.

Grover scans the area; he doesn't seem to believe that Travis is talking to him. Pssh. Like there's anybody else named Grover within a five-million mile radius. Grover limps over to where Travis is standing by the edge of the lake.

"Yeah?" Grover asks tentatively. So Travis never talks to him. That doesn't mean Grover should be scared of him. Pssh. (All right, maybe a little. But it's not like he'd stick tar in Grover's reed pipes...again.)

"I need your help." Travis says simply. Just be casual, then maybe Grover won't be terrified and/or his awesomeness. (And no Travis doesn't have a big ego, whatever made you think that?)

"With what...?" Grover answers in a nervous tone of voice. Why does everyone expect Travis to ask something horrible of them? Seriously, it's starting to annoy him. Can't people look beyond his habit (well, not a habit because he could _so _stop pranking people if he wanted to...which he doesn't, by the way) of blackmailing -whoops, he means _asking nicely_- others into helping him set up elaborate pranks? Really!

"How are you with romantic stuff?" Travis asks. Grover's eyes widen slightly. He starts sweating a little. This guy really needs to man up. Or goat up. Travis doesn't really know which one applies to satyrs.

"Uhm..." Grover doesn't finish the sentence. He tugs at the collar of his plain green t-shirt and gulps audibly. Travis starts planning his murder. (Maybe Katie knows where to get some body bags; Travis can't help but occasionally wonder if she ever buries more than just flower seeds.)

"Well?" Travis insists. Really, he needs to know _now_if he's going to be able to do anything at all for tonight so he can decide whether or not he should start planning his funeral. (Perhaps a small private ceremony; maybe they can set up a webcam conference of some sort so that Katie can watch the eulogy from her jail cell...Yeah that could work...)

"Look, don't pretend I didn't ask you that! I figure the whole camp should know by now! So answer my question!" Travis yells. All he wants is to make his girlfriend happy and to make sure she doesn't feel the least bit homicidal. Is that too much to ask? Can the Fates not even help him with that small wish? And speaking of immortals, where the Hades is Aphrodite? Why is she not indirectly intervening by setting a chain of events in motion that will ultimately end up in the perfect date?

As Travis continues his mental tirade, some corner of his mind has registered that Grover looks really nervous. After a minute or two of mentally calling out each and every immortal being (he expects to be hit by several 'natural disasters' and become the victim of many 'freak accidents' by nightfall; perhaps that would be better than suffering Katie's wrath or at least more dignified), it finally clicks in his head that Grover's hiding something.

People hiding something means they have a secret worthy of black-mail, courtesy of the Stoll brothers. Oh yes.

Travis decides that with Grover, the best way to weasel the information out of him is to try to replicate a death glare worthy of the Demeter campers.

Travis musters up an angry and exaggerated expression (good looks, acting skills, maybe he could run away to Hollywood and make it big; he'll do anything to live) and glares at Grover while conjuring up an image of Katie's infamous stare that has sent even Ares campers running away. (Strangely, that glare is one of the things he loves about her. Not like he'll ever admit it.)

Grover lets out a nervous bleat. His cheeks are now redder than Annabeth's face when Travis loudly apologized for walking in on her and Percy's intense make-out session in his empty cabin. (By the way, the look on their faces was worth the ass-whooping Annabeth gave him at the next Capture-The-Flag game.)

"All right, all right!" Grover cries. He has this expression on his eyes that reminds Travis of a deer caught in the headlights. Travis smiles and feels a surge of pride. His plans always work. (Well, they work except for when they fail. But that's just a minor detail.)

"All right, tell me! Tell me everything." Travis says triumphantly. (Oh, he's just so freaking awesome. It's a miracle his body hasn't exploded from containing his awesomeness.)

"Okay, okay! I guess since you said the whole camp knows, I might as well explain..." Grover sniffs. He appears to be upset but Travis could care less. Not only is he going to trick Grover out of some embarassing secret, he's gonna get his solution! Maybe the gods care about him after all. Oh, when Katie sees the romance he's gonna whip up, she's gonna regret ever doubting him.

Things are looking up for Travis!

Grover takes a deep breath.

"All right, so I'd just like to point out I'm a satyr, not a son of Aphrodite. It's not my fault I suck at being romantic! So Juniper thinks that a love poem that rhymes 'cheese' with 'please' is horrible! At least I _tried_! She should know after the picnic incident that I suck at romance! I mean, okay so I shouldn't have snapped at a dryad to 'go focus on photosynthesis instead of trying to steal our food' but I was irritated and-" Grover stops talking as Travis holds up a finger to shush him.

"Whoa, back up a second. Did you say you suck at romance?" Travis inquires. Oh gods, please let him be wrong. Grover blushes.

"Yeah, I do but-" Grover leaves the sentence unfinished as Travis's hands twitch due to his anger. Travis obviously is pissed off.

You know...There's a lot of things Travis could say right now. Many of them would make a sailor blush to the point that he starts leaking ketchup from the redness of his cheeks. Many of them are insults. Some are even incoherent bits of nonsensical babble.

But there's one question that for reasons unknown is the one that flies out of Travis's lips.

"How in Hades are you dating a nymph when you can't be romantic?"

He doesn't know why he asked that instead of strangling Grover. He just did. Grover kicks at a pebble on the floor; he's obviously unsure of how to formulate a response.

After a few seconds of deep thought (Travis sincerely hopes that Grover didn't hurt himself), Grover shrugs and simply says "Dunno."

Grover turns on his heels (...hooves?) and walks away, his slight limp present as always. Travis turns his head as he hears a series of high-pitched giggles emanating from a couple of Aphrodite girls sauntering past him. Travis gulps.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

::

"So the mighty Travis Stoll has come to beg us for our expertise at last."

Travis is tempted to point out that he just knocked on their cabin's hideously pink door and they automatically knew the problem and that she (she being Izzy, one of the oldest Aphrodite daughters) is making it sound like he entered the cabin while crawling on his needs and offering his soul as payment.

However, the last thing he needs to do is anger Izzy as he does actually need her cabin's help. So he just nods while suppressing a gag at the over-powering scent of various designer perfumes.

"Word around the street is that you forgot your anniversary." Will pipes up. Travis remembers the unpleasant experience from a year ago involving that little brat. Unfortunately, he still can't beat him up. (Damn.)

Travis settle for clenching his teeth in frustration. Will smirks. "I'll take that as a yes."

Izzy shushes Will; she takes Travis by the shoulder and settles him down in a bright pink beanbag that kinda hurts his eyes a little. The ADHD part of him wonders why in Hades the guys living here tolerate this amount of pink in the cabin. But then he realizes that the girls outnumber the guys in this cabin and no guy in his right mind would challenge a mob of preppy teenage girls.

"Let's just cut to the chase. What does Katie like?" Izzy asks seriously. Travis doesn't even have to think.

"Flowers, chocolate-based cereal, and hurting me." Travis replies immediately. Will chuckles derisively. Bastard. Izzy smiles.

"So get her flowers." Izzy says simply. Travis bites his lower lip to hold back the laugh. Pssh. He's not so stupid as to believe it's that simple.

"Huh?" he blurts out.

Will mutters "Idiot."

Travis whispers some very colorful words. A rainbow of them, really.

Izzy smiles at him condescendingly. "Travis, she likes flowers. So get her flowers. Honestly, considering this is you and Katie we're dealing with, she'll be glad you bothered to buy her anything at all."

Travis feels insulted. Is he really such a bad person? Is he so pathetic that people _expect_ him to forget anniversaries and prank them non-stop and not even bother to buy his girlfriend flowers? Is this the level he has sunk too?

Travis feels a little piece of his ego deflate.

A short blonde girl around the age of twelve or thirteen appears out of nowhere with a bouquet of lilies in various colors in one hand and a bouquet of white daisies in the other. Travis chooses the bouquet of lilies (Katie hates daisies and loves lilies); he immediately removes all the pink ones. The blonde girl arches her eyebrows.

"Katie hates pink." he mumbles. Her mouth drops open slightly as if she's thinking that hating pink is a crime worthy of execution. The girl looks as if she's about to say something but she apparently decides against it as she simply shrugs and walks away.

Travis sighs as he looks down at the bouquet. It's a bunch of blue and purple (Katie's favorite, he thinks) lilies. Maybe Katie's love of lilies will soften her up enough so that she doesn't brutally break up with Travis. Maybe she'll only be somewhat harsh.

"Thanks, I guess." he says in a somewhat defeated tone of voice. He's a failure. He can't even find a good enough gift for his girlfriend. In fact, he's such a fail that he deserves to be mocked about this by Connor for the rest of his life.

Travis turns around and starts to head out of the cabin, shoulders slumped.

"Where are you going?" Izzy calls out after him.

"Beach." he answers blankly.

"Should I tell Katie to meet you there?" Izzy says loudly. Travis shrugs.

"Sure, whatever." Travis replies. He doesn't care; Katie's dumping him and that's that. Travis lets out a sigh.

Well, at least there's a Capture-The-Flag game tonight. That means everybody will be wrapped up in the game and nobody will witness Katie breaking up with him.

The thought doesn't comfort him much.

::

"Travis?"

Travis is tempted not to look away from the ocean. But it's Katie's voice so he can't help but look at her as she plops down next to him, mere inches away from the shoreline.

Katie studies Travis for a few moments and her gaze falls on the bouquet of flowers in Travis's fist.

"Is it safe to assume that those flowers are for me?" Katie says, smiling. The corners of Travis's lips twitch as he fights back a smile.

"No, actually, they're for this amazing girl I've been dating for a year. She's a daughter of Demeter; maybe you know her?" Travis replies, his trademark smirk starting to etch itself on his face. It's kinda hard for him to be upset when he's bantering with Katie. Katie chuckles as she takes the flowers from him.

Her smile widens as she inhales the scent of the flowers. "It's nice to know that you remembered lilies are my favorite. And half of these are purple, that's nice."

Travis feels a stab of anger. Even Katie expects him to be a bad person! What does she mean 'It's nice to know you remembered'? Did she expect him to not pay attention to her? To forget little details like the fact she loathes pink and will do almost anything for a granola bar?

Katie's eyebrows knit together in worry. "Travis? Are you okay? Your hands are twitching like they always do when you're mad..."

Travis blurts out his thoughts.

"Well, let's see. How do I begin? Let's start with the fact I'm a horrible person. I lied to you this morning when I said I had something planned for tonight. I had to go around asking a bunch of people for advice; what kind of boyfriend does that? I asked _Grover_ for the gods' sake! That's how desperate I was! I went so far as to risk all my masculinity by entering the disgustingly girly place that is the Aphrodite cabin. I may never recover from the mental scarring! But you know what? I _deserve_ the scars! I didn't even get the flowers myself! Some Aphrodite chick gave them to me. So yeah, of course I'm angry! I'm a fail and-"

Travis's rant halts when Katie kisses him abruptly. Not like he has a problem with it.

Eventually (unfortunately), Kate pulls away. Travis feels slightly dazed. He suddenly remembers what he was yelling about when Katie clamps her hand over his mouth.

"Don't talk. I just think you should know that I know everything you did today. I know about asking Annabeth, Chris, Grover, and the Aphrodite kids. I know pretty much everything you told them. And don't ask how I know for I will not divulge my ninja secrets. And let me just say, that you're _not_ a horrible person. If you were, I wouldn't be dating you and I definitely would not love you. And you think that you're a bad boyfriend for going through all the crap you went through today when really, it makes you thoughtful." Katie says.

Travis doesn't really know how to answer. Partly because he expected Katie to castrate him and partly because Katie's hand is still over his mouth. He grabs Katie's hand and removes it from his face. Still clutching her hand, he starts thinking about what Katie said.

"You know," Travis says slowly, "I guess I _am _pretty awesome for dealing with the Aphrodite kids for you."

Katie smirks and nods her head in agreement. "Exactly. Not only that but you survived."

Travis smiles. "Yeah, I guess I did."

Katie scoots closer to Travis. "You know, Travis...I asked Chris about his conversation with you and it gave me an idea for my gift to you."

Katie smiles slyly at Travis. Travis smirks; he thinks he kinda knows what she's talking about.

"What is it?" he asks. Katie stands up and brushes the sand off her jeans.

"Why don't you follow me to my conveniently empty cabin and find out?" she says, her smirk growing wider.

Travis jumps up, grabs Katie by the wrist, and they head towards the Demeter cabin, laughing the whole way.

Maybe Travis should forget _all _his anniversaries with Katie.

* * *

**(A/N) Wow. This is a lot longer than I thought it would be. Oh well. :P I'm not that good at fluff and the ending was kinda weak but other than that, I suppose it could've been worse. Whatever. Reviews motivate me. Motivation means I update faster. Just saying. :P**


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